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s
I
Mil DAlR COUNTY lNKWS
EARLY BASEBALL
The Game In the Days When It
Was Played With Bare Hands.
MASKS WERE NOT USED THEN.
As a Result Fractured Noses, Split (
Palms and Broken Fingers Were'
Everyday Incidents The Advent and .
Development of Protective Devices, j
. , . ., i
"Cnn vim Inininp n mnilprn h.ispn.n!' i
D
team playing the game barehanded?"
asked a gray haired fan while discuss
ing diamond doings of long ago. "There
would be plenty of business for the
bone setters and so many errors In the
field that the sport would develop Into
a burlesque. Yet I can remember the
days when ball players never wore
gloves and when catchers had neither
masks nor mitts It required great
courage to face a swift pitcher and lots !
of uerve to get in front of a hot
grounder." .
Many of our citizens who played
baseball more than thirty-five years
ago will tell you that broken fingers.
bone bruises, split palms and torn Tfin-1
ger nails were everyday accidents and '
that a player who showed the white
feather was tabooed. Before gloves
and masks were invented catchers had
endless troubles. The old timers who
dared to stand close behind the bats
men bad teeth knocked out and noses
fr::ctured by the foul tips that could
not be avoided. Soon came a habit of
putting a piece of solid rubber in the
mouth made in such a manner that it
covered the lips and provided protec
tion for the teeth. It proved so enl
cient that all the leading catchers
adopted it But even then It was dan
gerous to catch close up until James
Tyug, the former Harvard player. In
vented the mask, a cumbersome affair
with broad strips of flattened iron that
covered the face, but also partially ob
scured the backstop's vision.
Then came the catcher's gloves, one 1
for each hand. These crloves n-nrp nf .
light kid. with no fingers and little or i
no padding. Catchers who handled '
swift deliveries, therefore, soon found i
that the gloves did not come up to the :
requirements, so it was a common
thing to see backstops stuffing grass i
Into the gloves to protect the palms of '
the bands. I
One ot the firsc National league
catchers to use a left hand glove with
lingers was Meyers of Indianapolis, '
more than twenty-five years ago. !
Somebody made a glove for him that ',
caused a general laugh The fingers !
were so long and the surface of the j
glove was so broad that Meyers found j
it difficult at first to hold a pitched I
ball. He was catching the great Hen- j
ry Boyle in those days, and Boyle had '
blinding speed Meyers had broken '
all of his fingers, also both thumbs, in '
handling Boyle with the fingerless i
gloves, so that lie readily tried the
new one. and after much perseverance
he proved that it had merit After
ih.tt all the catchers adopted a finger
glove for the left hand. The glove was
Improved upon when the manufactur- i
er put solid leather tips on the ends of
the fingers to protect the nails.
Buck Ewing. Silver Flint and Char- '
ley Bennett three ot the greatest
backstops the game ever produced.
were among the first to adopt the mitt,
which was a comparatively light af- i
fair, but made it Impossible to Injure
the fingers ot the left hand. As the
manufacturers gradually Increased the
size and weight of the catcher's mitt
the mania for gloves became general.
Tbe in and out fielders adopted them,
some using the mitt until the baseball
rule makers were forced to legislate
against the practice.
When the rule stipulating the size of
the glove to be worn was passed the
catcher was allowed to wear the same
heavy mitt, while a lighter one was
assigned to the first baseman. But
all the other fielders were compelled !
to use a finger glove weighing not
more than half a dozen ounces. Before ,
the in and out fielders began to wear '
gloves, however, many stars made re- '
markable records. Adrian C. Anson ,
played first base for the Chicagos for
many years barehanded. The old man
was a mark for such swift throw- ,
lng Infielders as Ed Williamson and ,
Fred Pfeffer. who tried in vain to i
make him wince Many times Anson
went home from the ball field with
swollen fin; ts and very painful bone
bruises, but never used a mitt or a 1
glove until near the end of his dia-
mond career.
VVIfli fho nnnnlir!fr nf tliA trlnnn
. ", 1 , . Z, !
came iu ILU1MUH.-U aijie 01 muhw me i
wires were made smaller and stronger, j
with the padding firmer Later on the
mask hnd a visor of leather to keen ,
the sun out of the catcher's eyes, to I
getber with a steel protection for the '
!L,i- h ho ti, i, , V i
neck and throat The chest protector !
. , ..0 i i, i i . w . 4. I
came Into use In the eighties, but at
fin.t it was ot inflated. It was a flat I
affair with bamboo frame over which '
was a buckskin covering. This did
pot prevent catchers from being par
n&Hy knocked out by sharp foul tips
ji the bread basket, so the pneumatic
chest protector was bailed with de-Utrlit-
and Is now indisnensable.
Roger Breuahan was the first major
league fatcnr to wear shin guards
neb as cricketers use He was ridi-
ruled at first, but when a special make
,vas put on the market Roger was vln- I
dlcated. The guards now worn bj
- i
many backstops have a Joint at the
knees so that they do not impede
catchers In their hurry after foul flies.
The guards are adjusted quickly and
prevent many serious Injuries. New
York Sun.
LANDED A BIG FISH.
Then
He Hooked Bigger Game and
Had an Exciting Time.
A singular fish story is told In the
East Indian papers. A fisherman
started for the river, accompanied by
n shikari, carrying a rifle for use in
ca.se of an encounter with big game.
The fisherman in a short time landed
a large fish and then' moved up stream
to another pool. On his way he pass
ed a ravine and caught sislit of an
enormous tiger.
In a panic the fisherman concealed
himself behind a pile of rocks and was
flattering himself that he had escaped
observation when the fish fell from his
. ...... ...
i nanus m iun view or tne tiger.
The fish was floundering in the road,
and the tiger instantly pounced on it
and carried it off. But the hook still
held, and as soon as the tiger felt the
resistance of the line he gave his head
an impatient shake, which resulted in
the harpooning of his upper lip.
At this critical moment the enraged
animal saw the crouching fisherman,
who was totally unnerved by his dan-
gerous position, and actually began to
play the tiger as he would a fish,
The tiger stopped for a moment in
apparent amazement at such audacity,
and In that Instant the shikari came
on the scene wlth his riue and sent a
JulI?fc hru the brute's bIn.-St
Loms Globe-Democrat
FRENCH lOBACCO TESTERS.
Men Who Find Smoking Anything but
an Agreeable Task.
The French government's official
tasters of tobacco form a category of
civil servants of whose activity little i
Is known outside their own depart
ment Tobacco Is a state monopoly in
France, and these experts are employ
ed under the ministry of finance to re
port on all classes of tobacco that are ;
permitted to be sold in France. The '
tors of tobacco factories.
Their hours of business are from 9
to 5. As a rule, it is the lower grades
of tobacco that need the most careful
1 attention. They have to report not
only on the cigars, cigarettes and pipe i
tobaccos nnt on the mnrkt hv thp
French Tobacco Regie, but also n all j
Imported tobacco.
Smoking when compulsory is any
thing but an agreeable duty,' these
employees say. They are in constant
danger from ills caused by the exces
sive use of tobacco, and they combat
these by taking large quantities of
black coffee, which is also said to as
sist them to differentiate between the
various kinds of tobacco on which they
have to give their opinion. Exchange.
How Seeds Travel.
They have been discovering some ex
traordinary plants in England, plants
j which puzzled the botauists. to whom
j they were either ut-'-'iy unknown or
, knowu as growing c Jy in far distant
lands. One uatura it picked on the
, grounds of the Bradtord sewage works
100 species of foreign plants. Among
these were several Australian burrs,
Jlmson weed, prickly popples from
Mexico, others native to Peru, Siberia
and the Azores. All were of a prickly
, nature. Investigation proved that the
' dust from wool combing establishments
was being used as fertilizer and the
i washings of wool were run into the
sewers. The burrs of these foreign
t plants had come in the wool and had
' grown. Other plants had sprung from
seed in rags and others been brought
in soil on foreign timber. New York
i World.
Level of Two Seas.
When attention was first called to
the practicability of a canal from the
Mediterranean to the Red sea by the
first Napoleon a corps of surveyors
was sent out to "run the levels." They
reported that the scheme would neces
sarily have to be abandoned because
the level of the Red sea was thirty
feet six and a half Inches higher than
that of the Mediterranean. That report
put a damper on the canal project for
several years. In 1S47. however, some
"doubting Thomases" prevailed on the
great powers to resurvey the route.
England sent Robert Stephenson. Aus
tria M. Talbot and France Signor Ne
grelli They found that the two seas
had exactly the saire level, and the
Suez canal was tbe rtsult
The Weight of the World.
A cubic foot of earth weighs about
five aud a half times as much as a cu
bic foot of water. A cubic mile of
, earth then weighs 2o.C94.U00.000 tons.
The volume of the earth is 2o9.SS0.000.
' 000 cubic miles. The weight of the
j world without its atmosphere is .(i((j.-
2o0.000.000.000.000.000 tons
If we add
to this the weight of the atmosphere
given above we get a grand total
G.0GG.2o.".S19.C0n.000.C00.000 tons
.
.. . 5 uf, ,'
Does 'your mother take an Merest
. , . , , .
Ul yur father's business?" asked the
, , ...
iuuj iiauui.
'indeed, she ilea
replied the boy
feelingly.
"And what is voir
father's busl-
1 ness?"
"He's in the slimgle business."- Yon
kers Statesman.
... ,. So He D,d
Indiana, you know." said the widely
JL"T ,VeryH ftoL Tney'rc
ne LIn,wnvto1 ,aufflL-
h' l ' rerIerd fllP-
I '""' i-.ou. iur iutri uuugieuow
made
XIlnne-ha-ha."-Catholic Standard
and Times.
The two powers -which In my opinion
constitute a wise man are those tf
bearing and forbearing. Epictetns.
SHAKESPEARE AS AN ACTOR.
Ha Evidently Was Not a Player of Any
Great Power.
It was probably in l.'DS that Shake
speare first appeared as Adam and us
the elder Knowell, aud it was probably
in 1G02 that he first .personated the
ghost, being then thirty-eight years
old. says Brander Matthews in the
North American Review. He was to
remain on the stage ten or twelve
years longer, but there is no reason to
suppose that the parts he played in
lar life were any more important.
We do uot know what characters bet
undertook in the plays which he wrote
after TJamlet" nor do we know what
parts he assumed in the many pieces
by other authors which made up the
repertory of the company That he, boardt wuicU( being struck by the fin
continued to act we need uot doubt. ; gers. caused the hammers to strike the
For instance, he was one of the per-, strincs. This was called a claviev-
formers in Ben Jonson's "Sejanus."
probably produced In 1G02 or 1G03
But the absence of specific iaforma
tion on this point is evidence that he
did not impress himself upon his con
temporaries as an actor of power. As
Lewes declared. "The mere fact that
we hear nothiug.of his qualities as an
actor implies that there was nothing
above the line, nothing memorable to
be spoken of." The parts which we be-
lieve him to have played did not "de
mand or admit various excellencies."
Shakespeare may have had lofty his
trlonic ambitions, but probably he w:i
not allowed to gratify his longings, and
certainly .we have no tradition or hint
that he ever failed in what he at
tempted in the theater. Perhaps we
are justified in believing that he had
gone on the stage merely as the easiest
means of Immediately earning his liv-
jn
that he did not greatly care for
acting and that he was satisfied to as
sume the responsible but subordinate
parts for which he was best fitted.
THE ORDINARY MAN.
Some of the Snags He' Struck In His
Journey Through Life.
The ordinary man walked Into a flor
ist's shop and. pointing to a beautiful
flowering plant asked its price.
"That Duodecimum floriatum?" ask-
e& the florist as nearly as the ordinary
man understood him. "It is worth a
dollar."
He dropped In at his physician's of
fice and requested that gentleman to
tell what was the matter with him.
"Oh, you've just got a slight mani
festation of Nasopharyngeal comblom
nierus," the doctor said, or words to
that apparent effect.
The ordinary man stopped to look at
an automobile, and the agent said:
"You see. the differential is set at a
tangent to the assimiiator. aud that
brings the obloid paralleling chute In
diametric connection with the swivel
lng trunnion." as nearly as the ordi
nary man caught the remark.
The ordinary man consulted his law
yer.
"We will appeal to have the decision
reversed." declared the attorney . "ou
the grounds of lex judicatmu non con
rendre posse comitatus " At least that
ss what the ordinary man gathered.
So he became so bewildered over the
vay things are told to ordinary people
that he was careless when he crossed
the street and was run down by an au
tomobile being demonstrated by the
agent and was picked up and carried
Into the doctor's office and called the
lawyer to make his will, aud later the
florist got an order.
And, to pursue him still further, the.v
carved on his monument "Requiescat
In Pace "Chicago Post.
Standard of Persian Beauty.
"Great care is taken that tbe Persian
girl shall conform to the recognized
standard of beauty, which requires hei
to have a cypress waist a full moon
face, gazelle eym? and eyebrows thai
meet." says a traveler. "Her eyes
brows and hair must be black as night
i her lip5, cheeks and gums as red as
blood, her skin and teeth as white as
almonds and her back, limbs and tin
gers long. If these conditions are nat
urally absent they are supplied as fat
ns possible by art Persian women are
always painted their eyes darkeuel
with khol and their fingers staine.l
with henna." -Chicago News.
Cannon Ball Trees.
One of the most remarkable plants
in the world is the cannon ball tree, to
be found in British Cui.Mia The nat
ural height of the tree reaches to
eighty or a hundred feet or even rail
er The trtilt is a hard glubnlai cap
suie. seven inches or more iu diameret
containing numbers of flat circular
seeds rather larger than a dime. It
resembles a thirty-two pound shot i
brown in color and very rough
That Loaded Revolver.
"And you didn't know it was loaded v
"No. judge. I swear 1 didn't"
"But before pointing it at the de
ceased, why did you not look into-the
barrel to see whether or not it war.
loaded?"
"Why. judge, that would have iieen
fool thing to do: It might have explod
td and killed me" -Houston Post.
Drew a Crowd.
"1 once woke up. if not to find my
, elf famous, at least to find myself at
tracting considerable attention "
"How was that?"
"1 had fallen asleep on a hotel ve
randa with my mouth wide open."
Washington Herald.
Naturally.
Belle- Cholly told me last night that
I was the hope of his after years and
the chance of a lifetime. Delle Gone"
What happened after that? Belle
Why, he very naturally embraced th
) opportunity.-Philadelphia Record.
EVOLUTION OF THE PIANO.
From the First Crude Instrument to Its
Present Perfection.
In the beginning the piano was a
harp shaped piece of wood, having two
or three strings. From time to time
more strings were added until the
cithara was invented. This was an in
strument in the shape of a capital l
with ten strings stretched across the
open space. Many centuries afterward
musicians conceived the idea or
stretching strings across an open bos.
About the year 1200 this was done, the
dulcimer made its animtKinra. nmi th
, strings were struck with hammers.
For another hundred years or so
these hammers were held in the hands.
i uiiu iiiun suuiu ueuius luveuieu :i uev-
thorium, or keyed cithara. and from
time to time it was modified and im
proved. During Queen Elizabeth's time it
was called a virginal and then a spinet
because the hammers were covered
with the spines of quills, which struck
and caught the strings and produced
the sound.
During the period between 1700 and
j lSOO it was much impr0Vp(1 aml en
larsed and was given the name of
harpsichord it was in 1710 that
Bartholomeo Christofoll. an Italian, in
vented a keyboard similar to the one
we have now. which causes the ham
mers to strike the wires from above,
and thus developed the piano.
During the last century the inventive
genius of musicians the world over has
revised and improved it until it has
reached the present day perfection.
Exchange.
MIGRATION OF WEEDS.
How a Seed Ripen sd In Asia May Take
Root In America.
Weeds miu: e as well as men. Ac
cording to t' best authorities, there
are alread;. 00 varieties at least of
weeds in "r-r England that were not
to be fon: 1 there when the country
was first -ttIed. Within less than
twenty-five idvs after the landing of
the pilgrims one observer counted
more than forty new weeds the Euro
peans had brought them.
Nature employs all sorts of methods
for spreading life about the planet and
does not seem to care whether the life
is that of a weed or of a plant tit for
human ue Indeed, it uses such un
romantic material as old rubber over
shoes for seed carriers, as many new
weeds have appeared in a valley in
Connecticut since a factory was estab
lished there that found use for such
eastoff things.
The overshoes come from all parts of
the world. The -loth lining Is torn out
before the rubber is used, ami from the
heed that have found lodgment in
such an apparently unpromising place
plants have grown on the .lump heap,
and their seeds have foun 1 fertile soil,
multiplied and nourished. What a ro
mance there is in the life of such a
seed ripened, perhaps, in Asia, trod
den in the mud and carried on board
ship on the feet of a passenger, thence
taken to Europe, where it was picked
up by the boot of an American, was
finally dislodged in the overshoe and
found its germinating place in Con
necticut Chicago Record-Herald.
Horn of the Unicorn.
The horn of the unicorn was reputed
instantly to reveal poison in a dish by
sweating blood, and great was the ri
valry as to the possession of the finest
specimen while this belief still flour
ished. Charles the Bold proudly pa
raded six. two of them eight feet long,
two six feet, two five feet. According
to Benvenuto Cellini, "the finest ever
seen, which had cost 17.000 ducats of
the Camera." was the one for which
at the pope's conimaud he made a de
sign, "tlie finest thing imaginable, mod
eled half on a horse and half on a
stag, with a very fine mane and other
adornments " Coryat speaks of the
one at St. Denis as about three yards
long, and Windsor had two of four
ells The real "unicorn" in many
cases seems to have been the narwhal
London Chronicle.
Igorote Craftswomen.
Though their tools are few and crude,
the Igorotes are clever workmen Some
of their axes, spears and shields show
a wild art all their own The pipe
niakers. too. turn out pipes of peculiar
and graceful design One day 1 watched
the women working in clay and turning
out kitchen utensils Two girls car
ried clay from u ditaut pit. while old
er women in the village worked it up
Shapely urns and bowls are molded
from the plastic clay and set in the hot
sun to dry I did uot see them bake
any pottery They called these vessels
fangaas. Christian Herald.
A Girl's Pity.
"It was King Midas, wasn't it. who
turned everything he tnuched to gold?"
"I believe s0 "
"Poor old tellow."
"Why do yon think he was a poor
Hid fellow?"
"He never could Kit a pickle witli
3is lingers."-Cliicago Record-Herald.'
'Twas Sneszy Thing to Do.
"At whom an' yon looking?" de
manded the yniiiig lady or the young
man who obstructed her path
"Atcior replied the hay fever vic
tim and hurried away - Houston Post.
9
As It Should Be.
Shopper- I want ! liny a necktie
suitable tor my husband. Salesman
Sorry, madam, nut we are not permit
ted to -sell neckties to women who ov"
unaccompanied by men Puck.
The Gentle Cynic.
Some people get religion every
time they get sick.
Even the egotist sometimes
has the wool pulled over his Vs.
A girl's ideal is naturallv shat
tered when he goes hroke.
Many a parvenue has the best
of every thing except manners.
The fellow who sings his own
praises generally sings falsetto.
Many a widow dosn't r?n!y
feel as black as she dresse?.
Flattery is about the only
cement that will mend a broken
heart.
Success is merely a matter of
profiting by the fewest mistakes.
It takes a dentist to pull a
man's tooth, but anybody can
his leg.
Any man can wake up some
morning and find some other fel
low famous.
It is almost as hard to teach
an o"ld dog new tricks as to find
the new tricks.
When a woman strikes a bar
gain she generally takes one o:
her own size.
Some people have no higher
ambition than to be numbered
amonng those present,
The fuzzy taste the next morn
ing is apt to make a fellow feel
down in the mouth.
Half the world complains that
it has no work and the other
half that it has too much
Many a woman who i3 made
up really looks as though she
hap been marked down.
Of course, women are courge
able. Many a man gets rid of
one only to get another.
It is of difficult to find your
way upward, but the downward
path is a blazed trial.
Lots of men who make the
most noise in the world belong
to the exploded theory class.
Don't flatter yourself because
you happen to start right. The
world is full of good starters.
Self assurance is not an un
desirable asset. It is better to
be too fresh than to be a bad
egg.
Can't give up till the final
count. Many a fellow who has
failed at everything else ha1
finally married wc!'-
When Ags Craeps In.
When a woman reaches tlut'
point of life where she realizt-:
that her youth is fast departing
she is likely to do one of t'v;
things either accept the sit
uation gracefully and resolve to
make the best of it, or rebel
against inevitable circumstances
and grow hard and bitter in iK
fight to prolong the youth that
cannot be induced to tarry. To
grow old calmly, gracefully, and
sweetly is a triumph well worth
achievement A few hints -is 10
how this may be accomplished
have been tabulated by a writer
who has little fear of advancing
years, iney ion jw:
I will not try to act nor rlres
nor talk so as to make people
think I am younger than I am.
I will not pretend to be young.
nor be angry when called old,
nor be ashamed of my age.
I will not continually remind
people of my old age to secure
their sympathy or to hear them
say I am not so old after all, or
do not seem so.
I will not. form the habit of in
dulging in reminiscences.
I will not talk of myself, my
works or my achievements, even
of my mistakes, any more than
is necessary.
I will never indulge in cyni
cism, neverneer at youth, and I
will try . always to appreciate
what younger folk do.
I shall try to sweeten, like the
pear Dr. Holmes describes that
mellows and becomes full flavor
ed before it drops from the stem,
and shall try not to sour and dry
and rot. '
HogWallow News.
A man has to hurry to drink
out of a strainer.
Miss Hostetter Hocks is pre
paring to sing at Bounding Bil
lows Saturday night. She just
sung there a few weeks ago.
Nobody will go from this vicinity
as everybody here knows her.
Washington Hocks is back at
home after a week's stay at the
moonshine still on Musket Ridge.
He reports a big time and will be
able to sit up in a few days.
Jefferson Potlocks says some
men with their promises is like a
lot of fiddlers they are all the
time tuning up but never play.
The rats have carried off near
ly all of tobs Mo?eley's corn, and
he says if he can find oat which
ones it was they won't eat any
more of it.
Tobe Mosely took down his
front porch this week and stored
it away in the smokehouse, as he
will not want to use z any- this
winter.
Slim Pickens took up several
of the old ones at the Postofiice
'the other night by asking them
if they knew how a man looks
when he was asleep. No one
could answer the puzzling ques
tion, and them Slim told them
a man didn't look at all when he
was asleep because be had his
eyes shut. Slim will be trying
to teach the Wild Onion sehcol
next.
Sim Fiin-iers fell through h
loft at the Hog Ford ehurchj
Sunday morning while preaching
was going -vi, He had gone ta
the loft to hear the
through a crack without
srmoii
paying;
the preacher.
After a brief mental rest the
Wild Onion school teacher has
again opened sehool and the
scholars are iearnin .'ry fajt.
Little Fidelity Flin lers within
the past few months got behind
with his studies, has caught up
with the rest of the class by
tearing a few leaves out of his
book. "
Frisby Hancock's brother-in-law
died -near Rye Straw Thurs
day, and Frisby will drive his
black horse for a while.
J. P. Morgan's admission that
less than twe hundred people con
trol many billions of American,
money confirms what most
people hae long believed that
such control is fraught with
great danger to American busi
ness and political life. These
men may think they are doing
right in the way Ehey conduct
business, but it will be im
possible to convince the public to"
their way of thinking. Such
con ce:i tra den of e nor mous
wealth savors more of a financial
oligarchy than of a democracy.
The great problem for statesmen
now is to insure that the people
rule and to do in without dis
turbance to honest business. It
is a large problem, but not too
large for able and concientious
men whose first and last aim is
to promote the welfare of the
country and allow no one special
privileges,
!
r
u
M-
r-vaw-.
--
iL&JMrr,: -i. ---riM